Electronic systems, such as computer systems, typically include one or more circuit boards housed within a cabinet. The circuit boards are often arranged vertically within the cabinet, in a side-by-side manner. During operation, the circuit boards can generate a significant amount of heat. With the arrangement of the circuit boards within the cabinet, unless the heat is removed, thermal damage can occur to circuit board components carried by the circuit boards. Typically, the electronics systems are cooled by a fan assembly placed within the cabinet of the electronics system to remove the heat generated by the circuit boards.
While the electronic systems can be configured to cool their associated circuit boards in a variety of ways, certain electronic systems are configured with a front-to-back cooling system. In conventional front-to-back cooled systems, a fan assembly causes air to enter the cabinet through an opening located at the base of the front side of the cabinet. As the air flows through the cabinet and across the vertically arranged circuit boards, the air absorbs heat generated by the circuit board components thereby reducing the temperature of the operational circuit board components. The fan assembly draws heated air from the circuit boards to an exhaust opening located at top of the rear side of the cabinet. As a result, front-to-back cooling systems provide a level of thermal management to the circuit boards carried by the electronic systems.